By mid-1974, 1,500 Soviets had arrived to operate ten Soviet-supplied anti-aircraft missile batteries around Libya's main airbase In 1975, the Libyans received 30 advanced MiG-23 combat aircraft along with seconded Soviet pilots and technicians to operate and maintain them lo the Libyan armed forces, often reaching down to battalion level. Tu-22 Blinder-C reconnaissance/bomber aircraft that had not yet been supplied to MOSCOW'S Warsaw Pact allies were turned over to the Libyans, although virtually no Libyans were ready to fly them. Since April 1979, Soviet pilots have used these Libyan Air Force Tu-22s to stage reconnaissance flights over NATO facilities and naval deployments in the Mediterranean theatre. ...
Although Libya has refused to permit the Soviets to establish their own bases on Libyan soil, it has permitted the Soviets to fly Libyan Tu-22 and MiG-25 aircraft from Libyan air bases to monitor NATO naval activity and military bases. ...
There are an estimated 1,800 to 5,000 Soviet bloc military advisers serving with the Libyan army. The total number of Soviet bloc personnel in Libya was reported by a Libyan publication in January 1983 to be over 70,000, including 18,859 Romanians 18,259 North Koreans, 10,592 Poles, 9,003 Bulgarians, 6,526 Soviets, 5,652 East Germans, 5,407 Czechs and 1,692 Hungarians.